Macaroni

Macaroni (Italian bucatini or Perciatelli ) are tube- shaped pasta made from durum wheat flour. They are about 30 cm long and have a diameter of 3 mm. The wall thickness is 1 mm. Through the hollow shape the pasta sauces take on good and are soft to the bite. Before cooking, they can be broken into bite-sized pieces.

" Macaroni " can also be short tube pasta that have a curved shape - Italian called Maccheroni.

Origin

The term derives probably from the Greek word Makaria for a soup or barley groats -like dish that was eaten at funerals to honor the dead.

Presumably macaroni or bucatini come from Sicily. The geographer Al Idrisi - in the king Roger II court described in 1154 in his notes on the customs of the Sicilian population producing maccaruni. Today the bucatini are a very popular compared to other Italian regions and often used in kitchen pasta places in Sicily.

Making homemade macaroni

Made of hard wheat flour, salt and water a pasta dough is kneaded. The dough is rolled into finger-thick strands that are cut into about 5 cm long pieces. These pieces are now bundled with the palms as long as a blade of grass or metal rod until they have the right length and thickness. Allow the dough to dry briefly, the blades of grass pulls out and attaches the macaroni to dry.

Well-known dishes

• Pasta con le sarde
• Pasta con le melanzane
• Bucatini all'Amatriciana
• Pastitsio
• Macaroni and cheese

Others

The term " macaroni " and " Macaroni " is sometimes used in German, English and French usage as an insult or mocking, ironic name for Italians.